Keanu Reeves Joined 'Hidari' After Pilot Screening, Director Kawamura Says

By Elena Vasquez

Keanu Reeves signed on to the Japanese stop-motion feature "Hidari" roughly one week after watching the project's pilot film, director Kawamura Masashi told the Tokyo International Film Festival. Reeves' team got back to the filmmakers to set up a Zoom call — a speed that surprised even the director.

"About a week later we heard back, and it was, 'OK, let's do a Zoom,'" Kawamura said. "I was thinking, so this is how fast things move these days. Then we got on the call and Keanu was there on the other side."

The casting of Reeves as lead voice was announced at Cannes in May. Kawamura said the actor had already seen the pilot before the festival.

How was the lead puppet designed?

Kawamura, who created, wrote and is directing "Hidari," named his visual reference points directly.

"We were heavily influenced by Kurosawa's films, so when the puppet was being made, I asked for Mifune Toshiro and Keanu Reeves added together, divided by two and then aged," Kawamura said.

From that point, Reeves stayed at the top of his voice-casting list. The producers took the choice seriously, found a route to the actor and arranged the pilot screening.

Kawamura and co-director Ogawa Iku appeared at a session on Film Frontier, a talent development program backed by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs and run by festival organizer UniJapan. The program has paid for the team's travel to markets and industry events.

Why did S.S. Rajamouli want to know more?

"Hidari" also caught the attention of "RRR" director S.S. Rajamouli. Kawamura met the Indian filmmaker at Annecy, showed him the film and ended up in a standing conversation of about 30 minutes about how it was made.

"He said, 'You're amazing. How did you make this?'" Kawamura recalled.

Such an encounter, with a director he would rarely meet otherwise, could only happen at a festival, Kawamura said. "There's the surprise inside the theater, and there are the connections after you walk out."

The team shot the proof-of-concept short around three years ago, funding it themselves with crowdfunding help, and posted it on YouTube. It has since drawn about 5.3 million views and roughly 120,000 followers — many of them overseas, according to Kawamura.

"Wood carving, stop-motion and a period drama — it's a very austere project," he said. "If we'd pitched it with just a written proposal, I don't think anyone would have understood it."

What is the market strategy?

With Film Frontier support, the filmmakers pitched at the Annecy Animation Showcase, part of the Cannes Film Market, carrying a hand-carved puppet. Kawamura said the puppet drew bigger crowds than its makers. The Cannes platform put the film in front of live-action and action fans as well as distributors and agents.

"Stop-motion is a really small world, and people tend to assume it's a narrow market," Kawamura said. "But even though it's stop-motion, we think of it as an action film."

The budget is large. The team is still selling the project, seeking grants and partnerships with overseas distributors.

"In terms of speed, we're making it the indie way," Kawamura added. "Thanks to being light on our feet, I think the project has managed to make it across thin ice."

Earlier this month in Busan, Dwarf Studios producer Matsumoto Noriko said talks with a U.S. company that had offered to fund the entire budget in exchange for all rights had stalled.

Ogawa, who works at stop-motion house Dwarf Studios, attended Annecy this year. He said the technique remains niche in commercial film and TV animation, but festival shorts and student sections are full of it, with studios from Europe, North America and beyond converging on Annecy. "When I took the puppet along, it was hugely popular," he said. "It was fun."

Film Frontier, now in its third year, belongs to the Agency for Cultural Affairs' Creator Support Fund, which backs creators for around three years — from project development through overseas rollout. That runway now carries "Hidari" into its next financing round, with Reeves attached and the rights still in the filmmakers' hands.